Seldom have we witnessed such a mad surge to get plans for Goan cities and urban villages, centers of abject urban neglect, passéd, almost as if any further delay would spell a death knell for Goa’s growth.
With a set of ODPs for North Goa cities, days before the code of conduct comes into force approved, the forces pushing for them will be relieved. They have signed off on a plan for a complete makeover of Panjim and other places. From a quaint little town, one of the world’s finest, with the charm of the old wafting through its heritage structures, the shaded roads, the promenades and music playing from gorgeous homes in tree lined avenues, they have signed off on a plan to make Panjim grow tall, so tall that the charm evaporates and a new ‘modern’ avatar is born (actually not since avatar is a version). This will be a Panjim (only because it will still be called that) which will not even be a remote avatar but a new born city, with buildings, very tall structures, five-star shopping and hotels, with nothing of the small town Panjim even remotely visible on this glitzy landscape of glass and concrete.
If this plan is the need of the hour, then perhaps a job has been done and done well. But have the planners paid heed to many whose knowledge, interest and vision for Panjim cannot be questioned?
This ODP is a game of FSI’s and special zones. But the DNA of this plan is vertical growth. If you can’t grow wide, then grow tall. While this justification cannot be bought easily, what makes it unviable is that this growth has been sought to be piecemeal. Urban Planners and architects, who are stakeholders and obvious beneficiaries of growth have sought to state that the city’s character cannot change so much that it is longer is the same city.
Importantly, exponential growth has to be in sync with corresponding growth in infrastructure. In Panjim, FSI’s have been increased but will tall buildings have wider access roads to allow for more people and cars? With vertical growth, there will be greater number of people moving into the city or working here. To cater to their parking, multi-level car parks have been planned. Do these car parks which will look like auto showrooms be in sync with the Panjim’s landscape?
The nature of this kid of planning will allow a different class of people moving into Panjim. The apprehension is that will the Panjim for the old families, for the common man, for those who still live in their ancestral homes or apartments, will not have a place they can call their own in a town which was always theirs. After all shouldn’t planning be for those who live and have lived here first and then be about those who will come here in future?
The palette of the new ODP will sketch the conflict between heritage and futuristic growth and give a helping hand to the latter while neglecting the former. With commercial zones, we need protection and development of heritage clusters and preserving the character of the city.
And while this is about Panjim, the same holds true for Margao.
Sadly, the ODPs have become all about conversion and not about planning.
The dream of making our city’s like Singapore, or even Navi Mumbai, may well be fulfilled. But where does our Panjim or our Margao go?
